1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet printer and a recovery device for recovering the discharge function of such printer (referred to as a recovery device) and more particularly to a recovery device operable to suck ink from an ink emitting nozzle for removing bubbles and clogging therefrom, and an ink jet printer equipped with such recovery device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are already known ink jet printers for recording with one or plural recording nozzle units for liquid emission, mounted on a carriage movable in a determined direction with respect to the recording plane. In such ink jet printers it is already known, when the recording nozzle contains bubbles or is clogged, to remove such bubbles or clogging by placing the carriage at a non-recording position, for example at a home position, and sucking ink from the nozzle with a recovery device.
In such an ink jet printer, the recovery device has been operated by opening or closing an external vent pipe connected to a cap member of the recovery device and activating a pump for sucking ink from the nozzle through a suction pipe, through separate actuations of a lever for controlling said vent pipe and another lever for activating the pump. For this reason there has been required a bulky device with a complicated operating procedure.
Besides, in such an ink jet printer, a reduced pressure created by the pump for sucking ink from the nozzle also induces a reduced pressure in said vent pipe, and the ink which has flowed into the cap member through a flexible ink tank, supply tube and recording nozzle of substantially atmospheric pressure tends to migrate into said vent pipe. If the ink forms plural films in the vent pipe, the ink meniscus in the nozzle is influenced disadvantageously when it is automatically covered by said cap member, thus inducing defective emissions.